I asked questions the whole way to the Captain’s Headquarters.
“Is he mean?” I questioned Mimi.
“No,” she replied.
“Scary?”
“No,”
“Creepy?”
“No,”
“Brave?”
I saw Mimi smile. She nodded.
We were walking up to the tower’s door when a girl with well conditioned brown hair suddenly ran up and hugged Irwin.
“Irwin!” she squealed, “We were so worried about you! How are you? Are you hurt? Do you need an icepack?”
I felt a sudden angry flare run up my spine and I wanted to knock the girl of her feet. I don’t know why though.
“No Karia, I’m fine,” said Irwin, shrugging her off. She hugged him again.
I gave a small hey-I’m-right-here-and-you-should-be-noticing-me-! cough to get their attention.
“Oh and this is Annie,” said Irwin, getting this clue immediately, “Annie, this is Karia.”
Karia gave a small wave and scooted closer to Irwin. I opened my mouth to say tell her off but Mimi grabbed Irwin and me and dragged us onto the stairwell of the Captain’s Headquarters, leaving Karia to sit in our dust.
Mimi marched ahead of us up the stairs, her leather boots making clicking sounds of the metal steps. It to a long time but we finally made it to a wooden door that was probably the only wood in the entire camp.
On the door, a plaque read: Captain Jonas Flynt.
Mimi raised a hand and gave a rough knock.
On the other side someone called, “Come in!”
Mimi pushed opened the door and I slowly walked in.
The first thing I noticed was a man sitting at a fancy desk with his back to us. He was wearing a long silky cloak with gold edging. There were windows in front of the desk and a large closet stood in one corner. A large king sized bed sat off to the side, velvety sheets strown about like someone had tried to sleep but kept failing. The man didn’t look up or turn around when we came. He just sat there.
“Um….hello?” I said, walking a few steps and stopping.
“‘Afternoon,” he said, not even looking up once. As I looked closer, I saw he was writing on a map. It wasn’t like the map of the A.T.P.E base. No, it was like a map you see in history. A map of a certain area. I could tell from the green and blue for the land and water.
“Captain, sir,” said Mimi, stepping in front of the desk, her shadow falling over him, “We need to talk.”
“About what, Miriam?” said the Captain, finally looking up from the map, “Can’t you see I’m rather busy?”
Mimi looked taken aback but she recovered quickly.
“This is serious, Jonas,” she growled, “It’s about CODE. No joke.”
The Captain looked up. I could see his face now. He had inky black hair that had a swirl kinda like Superman and a dimple hidden behind his ear.
“Really?” he asked. He didn’t sound scared or excited. Just in between.
“Ask her,” said Mimi, pointing to me.
The Captain turned to me as if expecting me to blurt out the story.
“Well?” said the Captain after a few minutes.
“What?” I said stupidly.
“Are you going to tell me what happened or what?” He kinda yelled that last part but I stood my ground.
“Fine,” I said and told the whole story again. Captain Jonas listened quietly the whole time.
After I finished, he picked up a microphone looking thing and flipped the power switch to on.
“Hello? Testing, testing, one two three. Can you hear me?” he tapped the mic a couple times, “Anyway, we are entering Code Red. Repeat Code Red. Entering Code Red.”
Mimi suddenly grabbed me and Irwin and dragged us down the stairs to her dormitory. In the courtyard, people ran to their dormitories like we were in World War II and we were getting bombed.
“Mimi!” I cried once we were inside, “What’s going on? I didn’t even get to really meet the Captain!”
“If anyone here in A.T.P.E base meets or encounters a CODE member, the whole base attacks CODE. That’s Code Red.” She rushed to a trap door next to the kitchen door and yanked it open. Five suits of armor sat in the space underneath .
Mimi grabbed one of the larger suits for herself and handed me and Irwin each of the smaller ones. Then she went to go change. I looked at Irwin and dashed off to change in the bathroom.
I closed the door tightly and started to slip on the suit. As soon as I had it on, I noticed the specialties of the suit. For example, there was a hood for rain and built-in grip gloves for climbing. And a sword and shield for battle.
I clanked back out into the living room where Mimi and Irwin were waiting. We hurried out the door and into the courtyard. The other people were all gathered and the Captain was standing on a platform that seemed to have come right out of the ground.
“The CODE is attacking again!” he yelled, “We must fight back! We must-!”
But he was cut off.
“Sir!” screamed a guard from the prison, rushing over quickly, “The prisoners have escaped!”
“WHAT!?” yelled the Captain.
Suddenly, twelve men burst out from the jail. They drew their swords from their belts and ran at the crowd.
Everyone screamed and ran for the WatchTower entries. The CODE people ran about, swiping at people and missing. Suddenly, I spotted one of them cornering Karia. She was trembling, her sword lying useless on the ground.
“Hey!” bellowed Mimi, stepping forward, “Why don’t ya pick on someone your own size?”
The idiot turned around and smacked another in the face. They both fell down. Mimi ran at them with her sword above her head like a cowgirl. They scrambled to their feet and picked up their swords, ready to fight.
The crowd was thinning but I saw a young boy being threatened by one of the prisoners. So I did what Mimi had done.
“Hey you!” I hollered, cupping my hands around my mouth like a megaphone, “Go pick on someone else! That kid trembling because you breath smells so bad!”
Okay, maybe not the best comeback but the guy turned away from the kid. Good enough.
“Hey!” he suddenly yelled, “It’s that girl! The one who escaped! Get her!”
The dude ran at me as did the others. I was dead meat.
“Annie!” screamed Irwin, “Run!”
I ran as quick as my little legs could take me to one of the WatchTower entries. It was pretty cool inside. It was like the elevator Irwin and I came down in. I ran inside and shut the door. The button practically smashed as I bashed it, praying to go up.
Just as the CODE prisoners caught up to the glass doors, the elevator streaked up. Like the umpire says: Safe.
It stopped a few seconds after and I shoved the door of the WatchTower opened and stumbled out. But what I saw next shocked me.
A large wave of CODE people stood before the A.T.P.E. It looked like the battle in Naria.
I gasped. They looked really dangerous. Each member of the CODE had a sword and a shield and a grin that told the A.TP.E that they were trapped and dead meat.
Suddenly, the elevator door opened and the CODE prisoners stumbled out. A few seconds later, Mimi, Irwin, and the Captain followed.
“There she is!” yelled one of the CODE people from across the field, “It’s Annie Colder! Get her!”
I panicked and ran as the CODE warriors ran at our warriors with their swords raised high.
The A.T.P.E rushed at the large wave of CODE bravely. I gulped and ran behind a rock.
I could hear screams and yells from the battle and decided to hide behind the rock forever.
“You can’t hide!” I heard one of the CODE prisoners hiss from behind the rock. I silent-gasped and scooted away from the voice.
The prisoner crept around the side of the rock.
“Just give me the locket and you’ll be unharmed,” he said, walking around the rock to get to me, “You’re trapped so just give up.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that all of this would go away. When I opened them, I spotted a stick lying on the ground and suddenly got an idea.
I grabbed the stick and swung it at what I think was the guy’s ankle. I heard a roar of pain and I knew my job was fulfilled.
I got up and ran for my life. The CODE fighters were using cannons on the A.T.P.E now, causing lots of our warriors to go down every second.
I saw a large looking CODE guy getting ready to fire a cannon pointing in Captain Jonas’s direction.
“NO!” I screamed and swatted the cannon guy over the head with my stick. He fell to the ground and didn’t move. Suddenly, a high pitched screamed caught my attention. Of course it’s prissy little Karia.
She had taken a sword in the leg and now one of the CODE thugs was going in on her, raising a large ax over his head.
I raised the cannon and quickly light the fuse like Peter had taught me. A cannonball shot from the cannon and nailed him right in the gut. Talk about good aim!
Suddenly, someone grabbed me by my hair and held a sword next to my neck.
“Give me the locket,” hissed a voice in my ear, “NOW!”
“NO!” I yelled and kicked my feet as hard as I could. The guy dropped me but got a hold of my locket.
“Let go!” I yelled, tugging on it.
“It won’t come off!” grunted the guy, “Grab the girl and go!”
I felt hands grab me and lift me of my feet. I screamed and tried to wriggle free.
“Let go of her, you idiots!” a woman’s voice cut in. It was Mimi. Irwin was next to her, swinging his sword at my captors.
Suddenly, one of the CODE captors pulled out a black ball with neon blue lines out of his pocket. It was one of the disappearing devices, a Transporter.
Irwin realized it, too.
“Annie!” he hollered, trying to push through the battling people to get to me, “Hold on!”
The guy threw the ball in the air and it started to open up.
“Irwin!” I screamed as it started to suck me in.
“Annie!” he yelled before he disappeared from sight.